August 2010/5

US broker AmWins has become the second wholesale giant to lock horns in legal action with industry veteran Patrick Ryan's ambitious start-up, Ryan Specialty group (RSG), and its new wholesale broking arm R-T Specialty.

If further confirmation was needed that Lloyd's is the world's premier market for the placing of unconventional risks, then it has been provided by the news that an American football star has turned to the Corporation for a $1mn policy to protect his hair.

Axis Capital last week revealed it is on the hunt for a chief financial officer (CFO), after announcing the resignation of incumbent David Greenfield.

Endurance last week announced that Arturo E. Falcon has joined its worldwide reinsurance subsidiary to lead expansion into the Latin American market from a new Endurance reinsurance office in Miami.

A former vice president in Standard & Poor's (S&P) London operation is launching a new company offering ratings analysis services to reinsurance buyers.

UK state-controlled bank RBS will close nearly half of the 27 branches in its insurance business as it prepares to offload the division.

Munich Re's American unit has been ordered to pay more than $200mn to Travelers relating to asbestos coverage by a New York state judge, according to reports.

A further chapter in the book of litigation unleashed by the American International Group (AIG) and its former CEO Hank Greenberg was closed last week with insurers on the directors' & officers' (D&O) programme agreeing a $90mn settlement.

Willis will shortly discover whether its role as an adviser to the Stanford Financial Group will result in a formal class action.

Nearly 18 months after The Insurance Insider first revealed that the directors' and officers' (D&O) cover for Stanford Financial Group (SFG) was placed in the London financial institutions market, the dispute over whether the insurers are liable for the mounting defence costs finally began last week.

Nearly all insurance regulators monitor the industry-wide health of the sector but the standards of their surveillance range "often substantively" from authority to authority, a survey from the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) shows.

Discontinuation of the US Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) would have an adverse effect on the long-term availability and affordability of terrorism insurance, according to Marsh.

UK watchdog the Financial Services Authority (FSA) last week levied a record £2.275mn fine on Zurich Insurance's UK branch for failing to keep client data secure.

London and international market (re)insurers are set to be questioned as part of a new European Commission (EC) investigation into possible anti-competitive activity among the 13 shipowner mutuals of the International Group of Protection and Indemnity (IG) clubs.

Leading insurance-linked securities (ILS) investor Clariden Leu last week unveiled a $20mn a "cat bond lite" transaction that saw it transform an industry loss warranty (ILW) contract into tradable cat bond notes.

A raft of planned ILS funds were announced last week as well as the official launch of Horizon21 spin-off Twelve Capital, The Insurance Insider's sister publication Trading Risk reported.

The World Trade Center (WTC) Captive Insurance Co has extended its deadline for plaintiffs to consider opting in to its $700mn+ settlement scheme by two months until 8 November.

Lloyd's (re)insurer Amlin leads the cover on the passenger plane that crashed in the Heilongjiang province of China on 23 August, The Insurance Insider revealed last week.

Price Forbes' full-year 2009 accounts show that the London market wholesaler returned to profit after interest payments dragged it to a loss in 2008.

The merger between Cooper Gay and Swett & Crawford did not trigger change of control provisions in the latter's $415mn debt facility, saving it from the need to carry through a potentially costly refinancing operation, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

The Taiwanese financial regulator has vetoed American International Group's (AIG) proposed $2.15bn sale of its life insurance segment, dealing a blow to the US insurer's efforts to repay its debt to the government.

Warren Buffett, as he celebrates his 80th birthday, has signalled his intention to treat himself to the remaining 19.9 percent of Wesco in a deal that could cost Berkshire Hathaway $500mn.

Lloyd's insurer Chaucer suffered a difficult first six months of 2010 as it announced pre-tax profits down by 59 percent last week to £7mn on a combined ratio of 105 percent.

White Mountains became the latest Bermudian to beef up its share repurchase programme last week, as (re)insurers continue to take advantage of depressed valuations to deploy idle capital.

Investors should buy cat-exposed reinsurance stocks at the September peak of the US hurricane season rather than batten down the hatches and steer clear of the sector until the storm threat passes.

Lloyd's insurer Omega Insurance Holdings has reported a maiden loss in the first half of the year as the heavy toll from man-made and natural catastrophes and reserve strengthening pushed the group into the red for the first time.

After a five-year flood of UK specialty (re)insurers domiciling away from their home country Chaucer's revelation that, following a strategic review, it is to stay put in the UK is a welcome development to the impoverished HM Treasury.

It is often said that if you have a great underwriting team, the timing of a start-up (re)insurer is immaterial - soft markets or hard markets may affect its initial growth prospects, but should make no difference to its long-term chances success or failure.

A marked uptick in tropical storm activity occurred right on cue last week with the approach of September.

Glacier Re's slow demise as a live underwriter was completed last week with the announcement that its portfolio of business has been placed into run-off with immediate effect.

Omega Insurance Holdings expects to pay just $850,000 in compensation to ousted CEO Richard Tolliday.

Former Beazley Group chief underwriting officer Johnny Rowell has made his long-awaited return to the market after signing up to Pat Ryan's ambitious start-up proposition, The Insurance Insider revealed last week.

Fresh from being named over the weekend as a potential bidder in the forthcoming sale of UK insurer RBSI, sources have linked Berkshire Hathaway with a possible approach for Bank of America's (BoA) up-for-sale Balboa Insurance Group subsidiary.

Reserve releases by US and Bermudian (re)insurers were up by almost a third in the second quarter of 2010 compared to the prior-year period, according to a review by analysts at Stifel Nicolaus.